Have you noticed that when the protagonist of a movie goes on a quest they usually kick it off in a bar, or meet the other important people in their quest in a bar?

For example:

Star Wars ANH: Ben and Luke team up with Chewie and Han at the Mos Isley Cantina to help Luke fufill his quest to get to Alderaan.

Raiders Of The Lost Ark: Indy goes to a bar in Nepal to find Marion and the jewel piece that goes on the staff of Ra. they fight a bunch of Nazis, and then go on their way to Egypt to find the Ark of the Covenant

Fellowhip Of The Ring: Frodo and Sam are supposed to meet Gandalf at The Prancing Pony, but they meet up with Aragon instead in the bar, and he aides them on their quest to return the ring.

etc

Are there any others that you can think of?

The Magnificent Seven

4 of the 7 (Brynner, McQueen, Bronson, & Dexter (along with the 3 Mexican villagers)) are sitting in a saloon when the drunken Horst Buchholz (#7 eventually) comes in and challenges Brynner to a gunfight. At the end of the scene, Coburn (#5) comes into the saloon and joins up. Right after this scene, Vaughn (#6) joins up and they ride off to rid the village of Calvera and his band of outlaws.

X-Files: Fight The Future

Mulder has on a drunken soliliquy and then meets Dr. Alvin Kurtzweil, who brings the conspiracy to light.

Cool Runnings

The Jamaican bobsled gang gets into a barfight before showing the world that they're for real, and that they can compete.

the Matrix, although it could have been a "club"

Shows the depth of Hollywood movie making, now dudn't it.

Need some enlightenment, really smart guys to talk to, and half-way attractive women? Why hell, go to your local bar!

Brewster's Millions, although the quest technically didn't start until they were bailed out the next day.

The Killer starts off with a scene in a bar.

Brad Pitt relays his whole opinion of life at the bar in FIGHT CLUB.

Most of my movies have those damn_black bars all over the top and bottom...





Alphabetically through scenes I remember in movies in my collection:

Akira - Kaneda, Tetsuo, and Co. leave the bar in their first bike fight with the clowns, which begins the story.

The Big Kahuna - The night begins when the three men open up the bar in their hotel room, and the one scene mid-movie that does not take place in the hotel room is DeVito's character in a bar (where we find him in the midst of an emotional quest).

The Boondock Saints - The first action sequence begins using a flashback to F.A.'s Irish bar (scene with Russians).

Chasing Amy - Alyssa is revelaed to
at the bar after (I believe) Holden and her trade sex-scar stories a la Russo-Gibson in Lethal Weapon 2.

Desperado - In two occasions we see Bandera's character appear at a bar as an entrance (when he plays guitar, when the voiceover of the first action sequence begins "And in he walked..."). Bar(s) appear latest of course.

Eyes Wide Shut - Dr. Harford's sexual quest truly begins at the bar when he sees Nick Nightingale perform.

Let It Ride - Jay Trotter begins his day at the bar, and almost begins a quest with everyone involved at the bar...

Swingers - (And I'll leave it at that).

Three Amigos - Begin their quest in a bar (although this has a lot more to do with the tradition of Westerns and saloons, like Desperado).

Y Tu Mamá También - Tenoch and Julio

at the bar in
.



You're on to something here...

JFK: Garrison and Co. go to a local bar to catch the news on the JFK assassination.

Oh, and Memento essentially kicks off from a bar, if you it about think.

Dogma

I feel like I'm Han Solo, and you're Chewie, and she's Ben Kenobi, and we're in that F**KD-UP bar!

Most of Casablanca takes place in a cafe/bar.

Chronologically, it begins in the hotel. He doesn't get to the bar until about halfway through the timeline.

Granted, thinking about it makes my brain hurt.

One that hasn't been mentioned yet (and maybe I'm stretching it for the whole quest thing) is Vanilla Sky. He meets the tech support guy in a bar and kinda gets his first clues as to what is going on.

One of my favorite movies by the way.

Ballistic Ecks vs Sever starts out in a bar

Chronologically, yeah. But narratively speaking:

I thought that too, but wasn't it a diner???